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Wonders and monuments
The pinnacle of any Nation is the creation of a monument so great, so magnificent and awe-inspiring that it can truly be considered a Wonder of the world. As you can see from the bonuses listed below, wonders provide your Nation with a great many bonuses and are well worth the investment. You will also notice that each wonder has an associated point value. This value is used for scoring when attempting to achieve a Wonder victory - in certain games, you will win as long as you or your coallition maintain a wonder point lead over other factions for a certain period of time. There are 16 wonders, spanning four eras. Only one of each wonder may be built by all players. In other words, the first player to successfully build the Temple of Tikal will be the only player in the game with that wonder. This limitation when combined with being able to set the number of Wonder points needed for victory makes for some interesting strategy and gameplay. Some of the powers of wonders are so powerful as to rival even the national bonuses of other factions. Notes *As this mod deals pretty much with the early and late classical period, the Pyramids, Sphynx and Hanging Gardens are also notably absent - they however appear as ruins which can be infinitely mined for stone! *Of the 16 wonders, you may only build up to ten of them in any given scenario. This is because 8 of them require religious technologies to be unlocked, meaning that you may only build 2 out of the 8 wonders available there. Axial Period The term "axial" was first introduced in the early 20th century by the German theologian Karl Jaspers to describe the sudden shift in the priorities of religions and belief systems that eventually laid down the foundations of many modern religious ideologies. Classical Period The Classical Period was so named because it was the zenith of Hellenic civilisation, providing a yardstick later western civilisation to adopt and follow. By the time Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, Hellenic culture was spread far and wide, from southern France all the way to the Himalayas. The empire that Alexander founded however would collapse, but would eventually form the cornerstones of a new fledgling empire: Rome. The Roman Republic, originally based in the centre of the Italian Peninsula, would slowly absorb neighbouring states one by one until it would stretch, by the time of Julius Caesar, from Spain all the way to Syria, providing a model for future empires and world powers to come. Similarly in Asia, Confucianism, hitherto persecuted under the Qin dynasts, would eventually be rehabilitated under Han to form a core philosophy that would be referred back to by scholars as far flung away as Japan and Annam a thousand years later. Imperial Period By the Imperial Period, the Ancient World is now dominated by the world's first superpowers. In the Mediterranean Basin, there was the Roman Empire, while the far east was dominated by the Han Chinese. In between these two lay another empire: Persia. These empires were capable of projecting their influence far and wide, although it cannot be said that such power benefitted the commonners that were fated to be born under their rule. The Imperial Period saw Rome's greatest influence throughout western civilisation, and is represented under Rise and Fall of Rome with four wonders: the Triumphal Arch, the Baths Complex, the Domus Aurea and the Flavian Amphitheatre. Of these four, only the Flavian Amphitheatre stands today, and is known better by its other name, the Colosseum. One of the most notable events of the Imperial Period was the rise of a new religion, Christianity. Originally an obscure sect of the Jewish faith, this new cult would eventually eclipse and then leapfrog its more parochial and genealogy-obsessed predecessor, Judaism, by the beginning of the 4th century AD, claiming followers from Greece, Italy, and as far afield as Persia and India. Although the rulers of these nations would remain following the old ways and serving the old gods (or their own self-serving cults), one of the first nations to formally accept Christianity as its official religion was a then little-known mountain kingdom named Hayk, but known to its neighbours as Armenia. The conversion of the Armenian king Tidrat III to this new religion in 301 AD would foreshadow events in Europe for the next 1,100 years. Migratory Period It is often disputed whether the collapse of Rome truly represented a Dark Age in Europe consistent with portrayals of a bleak and devastated society, or simply a transition to a new society. Although it can be argued that the barbarian invasions of Europe did devastate Rome, it also resulted in a cultural invasion of the barbarians themselves. It is for this reason that in some historians' circles, they prefer to dub the post-Roman era as being the "Late Antiquity" era as opposed to the "Dark Age", which was coined in by Renaissance scholars to deprecate the Middle Ages. This gaming mod subscribes to the concept of Late Antiquity, noting that despite the downfall of Roman power, many of its key concepts and ideas would survive and eventually be disseminated throughout Europe in later years. It could be argued that Europe was eventually fully civilised at the cost of sacrificing Rome. With regards to this matter, the wonders of the Late Period mostly represent the rise of the seminal religions of Buddhism, Christianity, and Avesta. Monuments Monuments function in the same way as wonders, but are buildable by all factions. For instance, each faction having researched Christianity may build 1 Basilica, regardless if other instances had been built by other cultures in the game. Monuments may be built only during the Imperial Period and later. Monuments See also *Politics and religion